The goal of plant breeding is to combine, in a single variety or hybrid, various desirable traits. For field crops, these traits may include resistance to diseases and insects, resistance to heat and drought, reducing the time to crop maturity, greater yield, and better agronomic quality. Increased uniformity of plant characteristics such as germination, stand establishment, growth rate, maturity, plant height and ear height can expedite mechanical harvesting of many crops. Traditional plant breeding facilitates the development of new and improved crops.